On the third day of military training, Zhang Fangxiao won the competition by unsavory means as usual, surrounded by a bunch of her fair-weather friends, and walked onto the sports field.
The group from Li Xi’s dormitory still glared at her with eyes full of resentment. Zhang Fangxiao couldn’t care less; she casually walked past the crowd and started chatting with a few male students she was friendly with.
Suddenly, she stopped and looked beside Li Xi. A "boy" with a buzz cut?
"It’s that coward," whispered a girl next to Zhang Fangxiao. Indeed, standing next to Li Xi and the others was Xia You.
When Lu Xun and Ren Minghang came over, they also saw Xia You, who had finished "dressing" her wounds. Lu Xun wanted to ask why she hadn’t returned to the field after being bandaged up yesterday, but it felt like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat and couldn’t spit the words out. Xia You had cut her hair.
Lu Xun’s nominal sister, Ding Ling, also had long hair. Almost the same length as Xia You’s, Ding Ling once flew into a rage just because the hairstylist cut a little too much.
Xia You’s hair was black and straight, hanging down to her waist, even prettier than Ding Ling’s, yet she had cut it off. And she cut it so thoroughly, down to the scalp, leaving only millimeters of length.
It is said that most men have a longing for long hair; the secular world makes it hard for men to have long hair while women are naturally expected to keep theirs because it is valued as it is hard to come by. Does Xia You not have a sense of being a woman? Isn’t every woman fond of nestling in a man’s arms, letting him tenderly stroke her long hair?
While everyone was surprised by Xia You’s decision to cut her hair, she accepted everyone’s attention quite calmly. Her hair, like the Nomex military uniform she took off that day, was just a burden.
Without her uniform, Xia You attracted people’s attention with her near-perfect physique, and today she faced everyone with an almost unbelievable level of composure.
Since Zhang Fangxiao could perform such despicable acts so calmly, then why couldn’t she, Xia You, stand on the field with a brand-new look just as calmly?
The bandage on her chin was removed after a week, the scuff marks had disappeared, and no scars were left on her limbs. The relay race accident seemed to have settled down with the healing of the wounds.
Maybe fearing another unnecessary injury incident, Lu Xun no longer arranged relay races in the subsequent military training. Thanks to that event, Xia You’s relationship with her roommates improved, especially Li Xi, who always looked for various opportunities and occasions to get close to Xia You.
For example, two weeks later, under Lu Xun’s arrangement, all the students practiced live firing, with each gun alternating between two students. Li Xi insisted on pairing up with Xia You.
Hua Country is one of the two major military powers today, with different gun license management from Mei’er Jian Country; Hua Country practices gun control. Ordinary people rarely have direct access to real guns. Considering the likelihood of students entering the military after graduating from Longzhi Academy, Lu Xun arranged this live firing experience, which was the only time firearms shooting was included in the military training.
While waiting for their turn at the target, Li Xi commented on Xia You’s new hairstyle, "After getting used to it, your haircut is actually pretty good. Maybe I’ll try it someday." Li Xi was just talking; cutting nearly bald short hair really tested one’s face and head shape.
Xia You’s hair had grown a few centimeters and felt a bit prickly. With her hair cut short, her overly clean features looked even tighter. From the side, she looked like a finely crafted plaster sculpture. On the sports field, standing at attention, when golden light shone on her face incorruptible by sunburn or dark spots, it seemed to be veiled with a touch of mystique.
"The gun in your hands can be disassembled into seven main parts: the magazine, gun cover, recoil spring, main bolt body, striker, and the main gun body’s air cylinder. This is just basic knowledge. If any of you join the Armed Department after graduation, you will have access to the most sophisticated firearms," Lu Xun disassembled the gun in his hands, explaining as he did so, "Now let Instructor Ren demonstrate the gun assembly to you." As soon as Lu Xun turned around, he found that Ren Minghang had disappeared.